If this past weekend was indicative of anything, it’s that the men’s water polo team can reach the NCAA Final Four this year, but only if it wants it. In the seniors’ last regular-season games in DeNunzio Pool, No. 19 Princeton (7-5 overall, 4-1 Collegiate Water Polo Aassociation Southern Division) controlled No. 10 Navy (9-6 overall, 1-2 CWPA Southern Division) on Saturday evening in a 7-3 upset, and then defeated No. 18 Bucknell (10-6 overall, 4-1 CWPA Southern Division), 12-5, on Sunday afternoon.
The wins this weekend represent the best of Princeton water polo. The Tigers came back and defeated two nationally ranked teams that they had previously lost to this season. The Tigers held Navy to its lowest number of points all season, completely shutting out the Midshipmen for two periods. Much of the success came down to a simple formula: taking advantage of opportunities.
“In a lot of our other games, we have started well, but we haven’t been able to finish on our opportunities. We have had more man-up opportunities, we’ve had more exclusions, we do a good job of drawing five- meters, but we haven’t been able to convert,” senior tri-captain Eric Vreeland said. “This past week we really worked on converting these opportunities and relaxing a little.”
The Tigers did just that against Navy, taking advantage of the smallest of opportunities to pull ahead and maintaining the lead throughout. The Orange and Black held strong for the first eight minutes of play, with junior goalie Mike Merlone coming up big and shutting out the Midshipmen completely in the first frame. With the Tigers ahead, 3-2, at the end of the first half, Princeton needed to control the lead and rhythm of the game.
Senior left attack Mark Zalewski, who has led the Tigers in scoring all season, stepped up and put away two goals back-to-back to start the third period and make it 5-2. Navy came back and put one away on the only converted ejection of the game, but Zalewski came up big again and made it 6-3 to end the third period. Merlone stepped up big again in the fourth, shutting out the Midshipmen for the final eight minutes and securing the Tigers’ biggest win of the season thus far.
What was the difference this time around?
“Having the killer instinct, having the two- or three-goal lead and not letting the team get that lucky goal, that bar in or tip in,” Vreeland said. “As we saw last week in Bucknell, if you let the crowd get into it ... the refs, anything can happen, so when you’re up a couple goals, you just need to nail some holes in the coffin and seal the deal.”
Zalewski picked up three goals in the upset, while Merlone had 12 saves for the Tigers.
The following day, Princeton was matched up against Bucknell, a team who handed the Tigers a tough one-point loss a week earlier. Both teams were facing each other after defeating the Midshipmen the previous day, and both teams were looking to assert their strength in the Southern Division.
Princeton broke the game open with three goals while keeping the Bison to one, and the Tigers held on to the lead for the first 16 minutes of play. The Bison scored only two goals in the final two periods and were unable to come close to Princeton’s offensive outburst. With the Tigers converting six of their seven six-on-five opportunities and stuffing four of the Bison’s eight man-up opportunities, it was a clear no-decision throughout the match.
“We did a lot better job on the six-on-five against Bucknell today, and that’s something at this high level that will win and lose games for you,” Vreeland said.
Zalewski notched another three for the Tigers, giving him six for the weekend, while seniors Scottie Hvidt, Henry Fyfe and Merlone combined for 14 saves in the match. Hvidt is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian. The Tigers, who are now tied with Bucknell in the Southern Division, will head to California for a flurry of games that will be the best test for the Tigers this season.
“A trip to California is the best competition we’re going to get all year, regardless of the outcomes of the games,” Vreeland said. “Just learning from these guys who are playing six hours a day is great, and having that same mentality they have and playing against that kind of caliber makes us play as hard as we can every minute we’re in the pool.”
Princeton will face No. 3 USC and No. 1 Stanford in the upcoming weekend, with the three final matches determined by the tournament results at the UC-Irvine Invitational.
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